


[Untitled] - shaman!Canada

by schwertlilie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Kink Meme, Magic, Shamanism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-23
Updated: 2010-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-11 05:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schwertlilie/pseuds/schwertlilie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred and Arthur are early to dinner with Matthew, and Arthur discovers that that silly shaman stuff really works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	[Untitled] - shaman!Canada

**Author's Note:**

> Since I don't know enough about Native religion I've based this off of Core Shamanism (what an anthropologist decided was common to "all" forms of Shamanism, North American or otherwise). I'm not, however, a shamanic practitioner, so if I get something wrong, please let me know!
> 
> Just a couple things before we get started: Core Shamanism divides the other world roughly into three – the Lower World (animal spirits), the Middle World (parallel to ours; fairies, magic, lwa, ghosts), and the Upper World (ancestors, gods). Drumming is used to induce trances so that one can spiritually journey to whichever of these worlds one needs to visit, no psychoactive substances required. Eating is a good way to ground back to normal reality from the journey, and its accompanying spiritual/energy high.

"Alfred, there's no need for us to be this early." Arthur frowned. "He's probably not even ready yet."

Al shrugged. "Then we'll wait."

"It's rude."

"It's only thirty minutes." He waved his hand as he hopped up onto the front step, opened the door. "We'll watch the TV or something. Hey, Matt!"

Arthur huffed to himself as he entered behind Alfred, removed his shoes. Still, they ought to tell Matthew they'd arrived. "Matthew?"

No response.

"Huh. Prob'ly in the shower or something." He started for the living room, but Arthur grabbed his wrist.

"I've broken enough rules of hospitality already this afternoon. We're going to inform him that we're here."

Al rolled his eyes, but let Arthur drag him down the hall, up the stairs.

Down another hall, and Arthur could hear a low drumming. Al stopped in his tracks, pulled against Arthur's hand.

"He's busy. He'll be down when he's finished."

"It's just a drum, a knock on the door and a wave won't interrupt him much." He absently wondered where his fairies had disappeared to. "Come on."

Al broke Arthur's hold, shook his head. "He won't notice. Let's go watch some football."

He started down the hall again. "Proper football, I assume. With knee socks and no excessive padding."

He ignored Al's muttered "Idiot," and found the door by sound, knocked on the wood. "Matthew?"

Again, no response, so he opened the door. "Matth-"

Matthew was sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, with a small bodhrán-like drum on his lap. His bear was curled against his back, flanks rising and falling in time with Matthew's breath. In front of the pair were several bowls in an arc: one filled with water, one with earth, one with a candle, and one with a gently smoking herb. A black feather and a box of matches lay to the side. He would have looked asleep - shirtless, it was obvious how deeply he was breathing - but for his hand beating out an odd rhythm on the drum. Quick, but relaxed, with odd little grace notes. An odd little hum too - was the drum _singing_? Then the smell of the herb hit him, and he bit out "Matthew, is that-"

Alfred grabbed the back of his shirt, closed the door behind them, and dragged him back toward the stairs. "No, that's not pot, and no, he can't hear you."

"What the hell was it, then?" Down the stairs and around the corner.

"Sage. With some sweet grass and lavender, because he's got too much France in him." Alfred let go when they crossed into the kitchen. "Food, food- Chocolate. Good." He grabbed the bar of dark chocolate from the counter, broke off a piece. "Want some?"

"No."

"Suit yourself." He tossed it into his mouth, took another piece.

What followed was among the most awkward twenty minute spans of Arthur's life: watching Alfred consume first the chocolate, then the cakes beside the chocolate, then toast, not saying a word. He supposed he _could_ go into the living room and turn on the World Cup prelims, but there was something fascinating about the determination with which Al was tearing through his brother's kitchen.

Al was on the whole wheat bagels when Matt padded into the kitchen, his bear following behind. "I'm sorry," he said with a smile, "I didn't expect you for another ten minutes."

Arthur shook his head. "No, it's our fault."

"Would you-" He looked at the counter, then Al. "Did you eat my chocolate? And my seed cakes?"

"You drum too loud," he said around a mouthful of bagel.

"You could have left." He started pulling bowls and ingredients out of his cupboards, shoulder blades moving under his skin. "Jesus _Christ_, Al, I put them out so I wouldn't have to go digging afterward."

"Sorry for harshing your buzz. Maybe you shouldn't do work right before you expect guests?"

"And maybe guests shouldn't arrive before the scheduled time?"

Arthur frowned. The pot-like smell had followed Matthew into the kitchen, the need for munchies, and Alfred talking about buzzes... "Are you high?"

"A little." Matt shook some cocoa powder into a bowl.

"It's not chemical, if that's what you're asking." Alfred took another bite.

"It'll go away once I _eat something_."

Arthur blinked.

"So Matt, what's so important that you had to do it today?"

"Healing."

"For...?"

"Aren't you nosey?" He beat together the contents of the bowl with a few absent twirls of his hand, then plopped down at the table with the other two. "For me. My people. If it's not Quebec it's Alberta; if it's not Alberta, it's the Maritimes and/or Newfoundland; if it's not them, it's British Columbia complaining about being poor. Then there's rural versus urban, and everyone versus Southern Ontario, and health issues on reserves are flaring up again..." He took a bite of - was that cookie dough? - and smiled apologetically at Arthur. "Sorry, I can get you something after, I just need to eat this."

He waved for him to continue.

"Oh, Al? Rabbit asked me to tell you to get your ass down to the Lower World and see her."

"Him."

"Hir. It's been a while for you."

"Yeah, well not all of us are lucky enough to have our guides physically manifest."

Matthew choked and Arthur scowled, uncomfortably reminded of the times he'd found his colonies gadding about with their natives. "What's this?"

Once Matthew had his breath back, two nearly identical faces turned toward Arthur. "You didn't really think that bear was natural, did you?" Alfred asked.

Said bear growled, but backed off when Matthew scritched his neck.

"I thought he was like Ludwig's dogs, and you found.. replacements every few years." Even if there had always been something off about it.

Matthew snorted. "No, he's with me until he decides not to be." He pointed his spoon at his brother. "That was over the line though. You talking about my totem specifically is like me talking about your met tete."

Arthur let the silence stretch for a moment, then asked "What does drumming with herbs have to do with national unity? Or immortal guide bears?"

"Healing isn't just about the physical - or in our case, politicians." Matthew started to say something else, then looked toward the bear; nodded. "Kumagoro says it'd be better to show you."

"He didn't say anything."

Alfred waved the last bite of his bagel at him. "'Cause he's not yours."

Matthew reached into his back pocket, pulled out a small feather. It was smaller and fluffier than the feather Arthur had seen upstairs, but its colour was the same iridescent black. He placed it on the table, slid it across to Arthur. "Touch it."

One of his fairies chose that moment to reappear, whisper in his ear that _no don't low is bad go neither too high nor too low the middle is the way this is tumbling turning falling down low no_ Both the brothers were looking at him, watching him hesitate. Fuck this, it hadn't done anything to Matthew, right? The fairy shrieked and disappeared when he reached for the feather. His fingertips brushed the vane, and-

stories around a campfire with Coyote looking on while women in caribou throat sang and a father painted his son's cheeks with ochre and a family told stories while erecting their birch bark house at the winter campsite and

a man in feathers danced for the Buffalo who would soon give themselves to feed his family while an artist painted the black around the eye of a Raven and masks swirling and drumming and entreating the black robes to leave and take their diseases with them can't you see we're dying on red coats' bayonets in reserves in cities we're living underneath

the Earth so old older than Yao remembers and where Earth meets Sky there is a drumbeat that is a heartbeat that is life that is animals plants people on the land they came to recently long ago that is the heartbeat of

Canada

who is sitting across from England.

Arthur snatched his hand away, "Bloody hell," he whispered.

Alfred looked at the table, then raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Isn't that one of Raven's feathers?"

"I- Kumajima! Why'd you tell me to give that to him? ... Yes, he obviously got _some_ kind of idea, but it's Raven-"

Al looked back to Arthur as Matt trailed off. "What did you see?"

"... Your heartbeat," he said, looking at Matthew.

Both brothers nodded. "His heartbeat is his people," Alfred said, "but his people's heartbeat is the Earth, which all of us share. Not just me and Matt."

"And by changing what's inside me," Matthew continued, "or meeting guides to help me find new ways, I can change my people. Everything's connected, including those like us. Does that answer your question?"

He nodded, because once the shock wore off (and he knew what to look for) he could feel the tingle of magic in the feather, faint echoes of it in the bear. It was old magic, older than he was, and he thought he understood why his fairies didn't want to deal with it - they were remarkably self-centred, and this magic didn't suit them.

"When did you learn all of this?"

"We know everything our people know," Matthew answered, "and since despite your best efforts our Natives _are_ our people..."

Arthur flinched, just a little.

Alfred snorted, poked his brother. "Oi, Matt?"

"Yes?"

"Going to put a shirt on anytime soon?"

"If I'm still making dinner. Why, are you jealous?"

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. Trust the brothers to go from serious to baiting each other within seconds. "Just put a shirt on."

"Fine, fine." Matthew put what was left of the cookie dough on the floor for his bear and sauntered out of the room.

Arthur watched Alfred pout at the doorway, and hoped dinner wouldn't be quite so eventful.

**Author's Note:**

> Core Shamanism has a focus on drumming, journey, and healing work (versus, say, bringing the buffalo to hunt). Drums are used to induce a trance state. If one is sufficiently practiced they might trance out within a few seconds; sometimes one might trance whether they want to or not, which is a pain in the ass when you want to do something else. Eating, especially earthy foods like nuts and chocolate, is very body-centred, and a good way to ground yourself from a trance/energy high. (Hence, Al going for Matt's snacks, since I think he'd be experienced in shamanistic-type things too.)
> 
> Animals referred to with capitals (e.g.: Raven) are the totem/spirit, and are a representation of all members of species X. Most of the others' symbolism can be ignored, but Raven is trickster, psychopomp, and bringer of transformation. It seemed appropriate.
> 
> met tete: the lwa in charge of one's head in Haitian &amp; Louisiana vodou, which you don't tell anyone. Likewise, Person A telling B what C's totem is without C's permission is (extremely) rude.
> 
> There are still difficulties with me using Core Shamanism for this, which I completely acknowledge (it's kind of like calling a Unitarian Universalist a Christian and using them to represent the Vatican), but I figured better to use something I know a bit about than to fail utterly on something I know nothing about. (And there are Core Shamanic practitioners in Canada...) Still, if I miss something, something seems off, or you have a question, please let me know!


End file.
